About prizes for the contests I think that new outings (Paul's creation or our creations in a future) or flies (realized with RWFF), to use and play a week previous than any other fisherman would be a very nice prize!

I like the quarterly idea as well Peter, it gives the fishermen who just joined us the incentive to fish with us as well. As for prizes; I think flies tyed by members, books, and RWFF incentives are great. Maybe you can ask on the forum for members to take part and donate flies, books, ect for the contests. You can count me in to tie a dozen flies for a prize.

All wonderful ideas in my opinion. Resetting the scores quarterly will increase participation by the newbies I think. A few more contests like the last one and the top 3 or 4 guys will be up over 100,000 points. That could be pretty discouraging to a new participant. Great idea Peter.

Picking a new outing is a great incentive. Since Paul recently photographed numerous new outings, maybe the timing would work out right so that a monthly or quarterly prize could be choosing the next new outing. (I have no idea what Paul's shedule and plans are for releasing outings, so maybe he could weigh in here on this one).

As a tier, I'd be glad to donate flies occasionally. It sounds like a couple others would as well. Just thinking out loud here .... I'm wondering if a "fly swap" collection would work best. I'm sure some of us target specific species and lean towards tying flies for those species primarily. (I prefer Steelhead fishing... so most of my tying is geared toward them). Because I enjoy tying, I've got boxes full of different steelhead flies I'll probably never fish. But not everyone wants a handfull of steelhead/salmon hairwings - especially if their favorite species is bluegill, or bass, or northern pike, or tuna , etc. etc. However, as a tier, I also enjoy seeing other peoples work. I love reading about the "old" flies, classis atlantic flies, newly developed guide flies, and learning about flies for different species of fish.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if I were ever fortunate enough to win a gold medal in one of these contests and a handful of flies was the hardware prize, I'd prefer to get an assortment of flies to study and enjoy.

BTW - I wasn't kidding about catching tuna on a fly rod. I read an article recently about a guide out of southern Washington that will take you out 20-30 miles into the Pacific and if conditions are right, you can throw flies at tuna. Wow, what fight that would be! Hey Paul, how about some research on that . Look me up if you're out west again and I'll go with you and help hold the camera steady for the 5-6 shots in 20 ft swells.

While the three month reset is a good idea I think that providing space on the honor roll to memorialize those folks would be good also e.g. 'Master Fisherperson Spring 2007 "etc. and keeping those up.
Also a cheaper way for "prozes is to send a PDF for a certificate that we can print out ourselves on suitable fancy paper.

Guys: You all have a number of great ideas. I think the three month restart is a must. It could be every 6 or 7 contests. Then we can also have a posting for the year. Based on questions on the forum there are many new comers that want to participate. For all you new owners of RWFF who are not expert fly fishermen or women and want to take part in a contest, take heart: I have never touched a fly rod in real life, just in this game and I'm hanging in there.

Peter, remember the first contest and now the last few. We've come a long way and it's getting better each time. What I like about the contests is this: We have so many bodies of water to fish that I tend to fish a few I like most and the contest forces you to visit specific ones and enjoy those sites that I might have only fished a couple of times.

Dave, I'm reading the history of flies that you wrote and it's opened a new world for me. Thanks a lot, I appreciate the time and effort that is going into that.

Do we have a listing somewhere of all the short cuts that new comers could use? Example: D for drying out the fly and shift + next box to eliminate the hand on the fly boxes etc.? This would be helpful to our new members and I'm sure there are some I don't know about.

All in all this community has come a long way and this is just the beginning. I tell my customers about the new friends I now have all over the country and the world.

I think we do a good job of answering questions on the forum. If we had an instant messenger system on the site we could really make any new comers that register feel welcome and also "talk" to each other.